It's November 30, and the author known as Mark Twain was born on this date in 1835. We say "known as Mark Twain" because his real name was Samuel Clemens. A few years ago, American School employees were traveling through Missouri and stopped in Hannibal, where they visited a museum dedicated to Mark Twain and saw landmarks which were featured in many of his books. One of Twain's books, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, is featured in our English 3: Selected American Classics course. We're happy to feature legendary authors such as Mark Twain in our English courses and encourage our students to read works by as many authors as possible, whether as part of our online high school courses, high school correspondence courses and online middle school courses or just for fun.

It's November 29, and city of San Jose was founded on this date in 1777. We're excited to announce that we'll be visiting the San Jose area in 2018 to exhibit at a homeschool convention. It'll be our first trip to that region, and we're looking forward to promoting our online high school diploma program, correspondence high school diploma program and accredited middle school program in northern California. We're in the process of finalizing the rest of our 2018 convention schedule, and as usual we'll be promoting each of our appearances in this blog and on our Facebook and Twitter pages. We look forward to visiting a city near you in 2018!

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day set aside for giving back during the holiday season. This blog will not ask for your money, but it will remind you that American School is a non-profit institution. That means that we put students’ educations above everything, including financial gain. We keep the cost of our accredited high school program and accredited middle school program to a minimum without sacrificing the quality of our accredited high school courses and accredited online middle school courses. Give yourself or someone you know a great education by enrolling today!

Today is Cyber Monday, the day that online retailers often give great deals to their customers. The best deal you can give yourself today is to become an American School student. Studies have shown that people who earn an online high school diploma or correspondence high school diploma make more money in their careers than people who did not complete an accredited high school program. We offer a high school diploma online for adults or children as well as a diploma comprised of high school correspondence courses. We also offer academic and dollar credit for courses completed at other accredited schools and provide excellent service to our students. Make this Cyber Monday one to remember by enrolling and becoming our student!

American School will be closed November 23 and November 24 in observance of Thanksgiving. We're thankful for a number of things this year, but at the top of the list are the people who make American School possible. We have dedicated trustees, officers and employees who put students' needs first. With that in mind, we offer the best high school correspondence courses, online high school courses and online middle school courses we can provide, and we do so at an affordable cost. The most important group of people, however, are our students. As stated earlier, we put their needs first. It's a major reason why we've helped more than 3 million students earn a high school diploma at home, and we'd like to do the same for you. Enroll today. We and you will be thankful you did!

Today we're happy to share these kind words from a parent of a student who lives in Oklahoma. "I wanted to extend my thanks and truly heartfelt appreciation for all of your efforts in going above and beyond in helping my daughter. Additionally, I thank you for helping me to be able to assist her as well. While she has learned a tremendous amount in reference to course subject matter, this exprience and your efforts have allowed her to learn so much more than you may realize. She has gained understanding of many important secondary skills that will greatly benefit her as she continues her studies. My wife is a teacher and over many years I have come to appreciate the challenges of the profession. The challenges you all face are further compounded with distance learning and I cannot imagine the difficulties that must exist in teaching via an online format to children and young adults with sometimes very little time management and other self sufficency skills. I send my sincerest thanks and appreciation!" We appreciate those words very much. Taking online high school courses, high school correspondence courses or online middle school courses can be challenging, but you can feel confident taking them with us because of our outstanding curriculum and dedicated staff. Enroll with us today!

Recently we’ve experienced problems with sending grade notification emails. We know many of you rely on these emails to get your exam scores for your online middle school courses, online high school courses and high school correspondence courses, and we hope to have the problem fixed permanently very soon. In the meantime, you are always welcome to call or email us. We are happy to have you as our student and will be happy to assist you in those ways until the grade notification emails are up and running again. Thank you for your patience, and thank you for being our student.

Today we’re introducing you to a science education web site that may be helpful as you work on your online middle school courses, online high school courses and high school correspondence courses. Please note that by providing links to other sites, American School does not guarantee, approve, or endorse the information or products available on these sites. We just want to make them available as resources to you. We hope you’ll find the information useful. Be sure to check back often to see what sites we recommend next.

We haven't done a Testimonial Thursday in quite some time, but that changes today. Micah from Texas writes, "Thank you for all the help you have given me throughout this course. I appreciate it very much and would like you to know you're doing a great job and a great thing. You are informing countless children so they can improve their future. Thank you so much!" We thank Micah for those words. We are proud to offer accredited high school courses online and accredited high school courses on paper in addition to online middle school courses. Soon we'll add middle school courses on paper to the mix. If you want the same kind of experience as Micah, we invite you to enroll today. You can earn a high school diploma at home while improving your future at the same time!

American School is pleased to release a new Introduction to Computers course. The course can be a great addition to your accredited high school program and may be taken as part of our general high school program or college preparatory program. The course is also available through our independent study high school program. If you're interested in computers or becoming certified in the fields mentioned in the course description linked above, we invite you to enroll today. We'd be happy to have you as our student!